We don't have rednecks in Britain. We have racists alright, but they're grey-necked men in raincoats and boy scout trousers who wave faded flags and have been in our town this month carrying posters saying "GET "EM OUT!" "Em are black, Irish, Asian, French, American, students, Communists and the Rolling Stones, I don't know what music British fascists listen to. Folk is red, pop is Jewish, rock is degenerate, so I guess it's German drinking songs and Protestant hymns. What it isn't is country and western.

Which makes life tedious for fascists and difficult for British rock. The old formula was blues + country = rock "n" roll and Britain didn't have either and in the early days didn't have rock "n" roll either, only Cliff Richard and the Shadows. But later on, and I've never known why, we did get blues. South London blues, Stones style, and they didn't just sweep the world then but are still playing with faithfulness and fervour — viz Dr. Feelgood and even more obscure outfits, like Eddie and the Hot Rods. But we never made country music. Our schmaltzy tunes and serttiments came straight from show-biz ballads like "Yesterday," we lacked the mythology of hard working, hard drinking, hard divorcing, REAL PEOPLE.